Worlds of Ultima Retrospective | Savage Empire & Martian Dreams
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 9 ก.พ. 2025
- With the cost of game development ever-growing, and the number of employees at Origin Systems ever-expanding, it no longer made sense to build game engines from scratch with each new release. While Richard Garriott worked on Ultima VII, several small teams within Origin would repurpose the Ultima VI engine, taking the series back to its pulpy roots.
The fruits of this labor were Savage Empire and Martian Dreams - the Worlds of Ultima Duology. This pair of oft-forgotten games had as much in common with point & click adventures of the time as it did with Ultima. In this video, we'll be taking a look at these games, as well as the historical context that surrounds them.
This is the 7th video in my Ultima Retrospective series. Watching earlier parts isn't necessary to enjoy this video, but it is recommended. They can be found here:
Akalabeth & Ultima I: • Akalabeth & Ultima I R...
Ultima II: • Ultima II: The Revenge...
Ultima III: • Ultima III Retrospecti...
Ultima IV: • Ultima IV: Quest of th...
Ultima V: • Ultima V Retrospective...
Ultima VI: • Ultima VI: The False P...
Links:
/ majuular
/ majuular
/ majuular
/ @majuularcade (2nd channel)
Music used in this video (with timestamps):
pastebin.com/W...
Running list of sources used in the Ultima Retrospective:
pastebin.com/N...
00:00 - Intro
3:41 - Wing Commander
7:53 - Savage Empire: Introduction
11:46 - Savage Empire: Engine Differences
15:50 - Savage Empire: The Quest
20:01 - Savage Empire: Crafting & Survival
28:32 - Savage Empire: Combat & Companions
34:58 - Savage Empire: The World of Eodon
40:20 - Savage Empire: Pacing
44:14 - Savage Empire: The Quest Continues
47:58 - Savage Empire: Presentation
52:50 - Savage Empire: Culture & Controversy
57:23 - Savage Empire: The Lost City & Slaying the Myrmidex
1:07:43 - Savage Empire: Conclusion
1:11:09 - Savage Empire: The Ports
1:14:50 - Martian Dreams: Introduction
1:17:15 - Martian Dreams: Premise
1:22:16 - Martian Dreams: The World of Mars
1:28:20 - Martian Dreams: Storytelling & Combat
1:32:04 - Martian Dreams: The Historical Angle
1:38:55 - Martian Dreams: The Dream Machines
1:44:03 - Martian Dreams: Mr. Fix It
1:51:22 - Martian Dreams: Presentation
1:57:04 - Martian Dreams: Saving the Martians (and Ourselves)
2:05:43 - Martian Dreams: The Finale
2:07:19 - Martian Dreams: Conclusion
2:11:19 - Worlds of Ultima: Conclusion
2:14:56 - Worlds of Ultima: Critical & Commercial Reception
2:16:48 - Ultima: Runes of Virtue 1 & 2 (Game Boy)
2:21:20 - Looking to the Future
2:22:49 - Credits
Majulaar out here doing more with Ultima than EA has in years.
It doesn't take much 😬
Savage
That's probably for the better these days.
*decades
🎵 Co-stanzaaa 🎵
"...The cult of Ultima"
Or the Cultim-
"Or the Cultima, as I've decided to call it just now."
Good to know we're on the same wavelength
Same here had the exact same thought lol
I saw a video essay on Breaking Bad in which the author missed the opportunity to call a chapter "The Event Horizonberg" and vowed to never let this happen to me.
Literally the same it filled me with so much joy
@@Majuular That's like Creative Assembly calling it Total War: Warhammer instead of Total Warhammer. IT'S RIGHT THERE!
@@asmonius Given that Total War is one franchise and Warhammer is another, it's probably a terrible idea from a marketing perspective and may also have legal issues for the two IPs.
But, what are those in the face of the Rule of Cool?!
In the course of just a few months, your intro has become a sound I love to hear. Won't have time to watch this until later tonight but I know it'll be a great time.
It's PERFECT.
Can't help but whistle it every time I start up a new vid
Where does the intro come from? Sorry if this is common knowledge
@@robinlarin69 The video is from a Commodore Amiga commercial, but the jingle is from something else.
@@Ghosty99675985 hmmm ok thanks, it sounds quite iconic really
2:21 "This left another of Origin's rising stars as commander in chief of their next big project. Chris Roberts."
Oh cool, a villain origin story!
S-star citizen is coming any day now....
@@MajuularAaaaany day now
@@Majuular Dude.... you gotta believe harder! Take the spirit of Star Citizen into your heart!
Just 1 billion dollars to go!
Its what happens when you remove constraints from a creative that can't set their own limits. It's a Megalopolis/Duke Nukem Forever situation.
Before watching Majuular's retrospective I just knew Ultima as "some old RPG series for PC". Now I'm not only invested in the story of this franchise and eagerly waiting to find out more both from within the games and the context surrounding them, but I understand how important they were for the entire genre
This comment is an offer for the entity that shall not be named, you know, the thing that runs this platform
That's music to my ears, always love to read comments like this.
yea the story is basically a slow burn tragedy.
Heck I only knew it for Ultima Underworld cause that game predated or released around Wolf 3D.
Even then I don't know much about Ultima Underworld to begin with.
"Important for the genre" goes double for what I presume is the topic of the next vid, Ultima Underworld.
There's a lot of huge franchises we wouln't have today without Underworld, most notably in recent years the Dark Souls franchise and Elden Ring (King's Field being highly inspired by it) as well as the Elder Scrolls franchise (and by extension the Bethesda Fallout games).
Ultima is the grand daddy of th CRPG genre, while Underworld is the pappy of first person dungeon crawlers.
@@Majuular I hope you do a similar retrospective of Wizardry and Might & Magic, thanks for all your hard work.
Thank you for making these videos. What makes you stand out to me is your calm, purposeful delivery and avoidance of being too meme-heavy or hyperactive. Also appreciate not making "current year" political or pop culture jokes. Keep up the good work!
Wow, I really appreciate the super thanks! Many of my favorite TH-camrs have made videos that I've enjoyed for upwards of 15 years, so it's always my goal to create something that people will be able to find value in even when revisiting it many years from now. Time will tell how successful I am, but I'm glad that the intent is coming through.
@@Majuular I will tell you that I've gone through your entire back catalogue of videos so you're certainly succeeding in my book.
A grimbeard and majuular video on the same day! what kind of magical monday is this!
I KNOWWWWWW. The world is spiraling, but for the next 4 hours we are truly blessed.
What's up, Goth Gamer Nation?
Healthy, wealthy, and goth gamer
Greetings, fellow goth gamer nationals
Someone tell me where the rat relevant content is for the roundup.
hell yeah! yes. YES! the ultima 7 video is going to be so long, I can feel it
As someone who played Ultima VII back in the day, it's going to be epic and I can't wait.
U7 is shite combat and putting things on top of things. U5 and U6 are peak.
@@analogmoz if we're talking personal peak, Underworld 1 was my jam, U7 had lots of great plot moments I loved, you're right about the combat though, pretty incomprehensible
That's going to be good yes, but i'm looking forward to his Ultima 8 video and especially Ultima 9. That's going to be glorious.
Also Ultima Underworld I & II. :-)
I really like the approach of putting fun trivia that didn't fit elsewhere into the credits.
I concur!
Majuular, you're a god damn gift, man. Thank you so much for being the vessel for thousands of people who never got the chance to experience those old Ultima Games.
I started playing Ultima Online in the late 90s...and its been wild to see where all of those game design ideas came from.
Thank you truly, it's been a real joy sharing my experience with these games. My head is already spinning imagining the logistics of the inevitable Ultima Online video.
@Majuular I wish you luck. I started playing UO in 2015 and it's one of my favorite games to date
@@Majuular I was hoping you were heading in that direction, hah! No rush, i've thoroughly enjoyed all the non-ultima videos just as much. Cheers homie, you're doing the world a service!
I still have a vivid memory of dumbass child me repeatedly following people into the woods outside Britain with the promise of being given free stuff or shown cool things and getting murdered.
And who says video games can't teach pertinent life lessons.
Ayla (Aiela) is actually a reference to the Clan of the Cave Bear historical fiction series of novels (in both games). Ayla is the main protagonist who was a homosapien raised by a tribe of Neanderthals about 35-40k years ago. Very well researched and used the best anthropology science available but the books were also infamous for extremely graphic and detailed depictions of steamy Cro-Magnon sex. Many a boomer mom read these books in the bathtub with a candle and glass of wine. This is why both in this game and Chrono Trigger Ayla is rather sexualized character…
It's made me so happy to see all this Ultima love from you. I hope you give Wizardry a shake after the, uh, very interesting Ultima IX.
Dude, I was having the crappiest two weeks of my life and this just instantly put the first smile on my face in 13 days. Thank you
Sorry to hear that. Hang in there! Things will get better even when it feels like they won't because that's what things do. Hope the video gives you some joy.
@Majuular It is so far, and I will hang on so I can see more of your stuff in the future 😤
Winston Churchill said: when you’re going through hell, keep going.
I swear he has a special power to upload whenever im like "Huh its been a little while since he uploaded"
no joke, I have rewatched your content so much. you are the coziest retrospective content maker around, and I can't get enough. Thank you boss
Thanks for watching!
I just throw his videos on to fall asleep to lol
Who knew people would be making in depth analyses of these games over 30 years later. And who knew I'd be watching them.
I was so confused: I saw Mr Edders video on Martian Dreams and thought I'd already watched this. Two Ultima videos! In close proximity (obviously just coincidence)! We're eating well tonight!
Just wanted to say thank you for putting so much effort into these retrospectives. Your videos actually helped me through a tough time in my life (breakup - c'est la vie) by giving me some good as hell content to go through and learn from, and your intro gives me the happy brain chemicals every time I hear it now.
All this to say - keep up the awesome work!! :)
It's my privilege. Thank you for the super thanks! Hope that life is stabilizing, at least. Long term relationships are a hell of a thing. Take care of yourself bud.
Been there mate
TH-cam can be healing 🍺😎👍
To think, I only stumbled upon your channel because TH-cam'a search bar decided "heck, we'll throw this random channel in the search bar". Dunno what compelled me to check it, but my god, I'm *so* glad I did, your intro is always a welcome tune in my ears.
I remember how I did.
I got a random Darkseed video come across my feed when we were setting uo for a six hour car trip, and I thought 'Hey, why not. I saw the Retsuprae's, lets see what someone else has to say about that little gremlin Mike'.
My experience was TH-cam kept auto playing his King's Field video. After the hundredth time, I finally decided to watch it.
I was looking for the Devin Townsend song and found that dark seed video lol
Goddamnit Majulaar!
How I looked at the Sacage Empire UI before: "Well that is a stylish and neat variant of the U6 interface!"
How I look at it now: 👁👄👁
Your long form video game essays are some of my favorite content to listen to, I just wanted to say a quick thank you for all the hard work and research!
Hey thanks very much for the super thanks! Unnecessary but always appreciated. I'm glad that my videos resonate with you.
Majuular always makes my day better
And now the wait for the Ultima Underworld Retrospective begins...
It's next up on the docket, you shouldn't have to wait too long!
@@MajuularIncluding Underworld Ascendant😏??
LETS NOT GET TOO HEISTY THERE PLEASE @@cybercop0083
Let’s goooo
Ultima Online was my first, but if that doesn't count, then Ultima Ascension....lol
It's testament to your writing, delivery and editing that I have watched and loved this series but have no nostalgia or experience with the games whatsoever. Keep it up buddy
Been watching your channel since your harvester video, i love seeing new videos come out. The ultimate series has been particularly thrilling, thank you for the countless hours of entertainment!
Thank you for watching!
You know what I do need to watch a 2 hour video analysis of a game I'll never play before going to bed
I can't overstate how much I adore this retrospective series. When Ultima was first making a name for itself I was around 2-3 years old so by the time it became the standard for PC RPGs i was just hitting school but already obsessed with the fantasy genre and gaming as a whole. My parents, being loving but also responsible, didn't really bombard me with every little thing I wanted like a computer but were always willing to get me any book/magazine I wanted so I would live vicariously through the screenshots and coverage. Wing Commander was a title I remember being raved about for quite a while, the different glimpses into it's world looking like absolute magic to me at the time. I knew of Ultima and even rented the odd NES ports on occasion (which I hold a soft spot for, they captured a large part of the essence I think even if compromises were made) so it's incredible to see all I missed out on.
What really makes this video series shine, at least to me, is how aside from the excellent step by step overview of the games themselves (which do a wonderful job of making me feel as if I was watching a friend play through them) it gives great background and insight to the real world going ons. I'm not sure if you've read it but I highly recommend the book "You" by Austin Grossman which takes a lot of inspiration from the real world PC gaming scene of the mid 80s through early 90s while also tackling the philosophical concepts of what role the player has while experiencing a game. Easily one of my favorite books of the last few years and adds further appreciation for the men and women who works so tirelessly to bring their vision to the rest of us.
It's so impressive to me how quickly you can make these retrospective, and keep them really high quality. I never played any of the ultima games but I know I have them to thank for all my childhood jrpgs and my more recent love of crpgs. Keep up the good work!
Haha Don Frye punching out T-Rexs gave me a good laugh. Believable and hilarious.
25:22 I wouldn't call nitrate a mineral. The reason you harvest it from a cave is because guano (bat poop) is a heavy source of nitrate. Doesn't make the video any worse- I'm still loving it! Just thought I would pop up as an educational tidbit for anyone reading.
The rage for nitrate for developing flash photography led to the frantic hunt for bat guano and lead to the awesome expression "batshit crazy."😊
@analogmoz😮
@@analogmoz [citation needed]
Wow. I remember I asked you about these two spin-offs, way back during your Exodus video. I think you hinted that you might give them some attention back then. Never would have guessed it was gonna be an entire 2½ hour video!! Thank you so much! I'm happy to see these two games get some more modern day coverage.
This series is so very excellent, thanks so much for making it!
I played JRPGs as a kid and didn't know anything about CRPGs at all until much later in life, and even then my knowledge of them was limited -- I knew OF them, but I'd never played them. Watching this series, it's fascinating to see how much this series (and other series like Wizardry) had a HUGE influence on all of the RPGs I loved as a kid. Hell, the first Dragon Quest even looked similar to Ultima! (We got the glow-up version in the States, but still.)
Also, it feels like the Elder Scrolls games took a lot of pages from Ultima's design, especially Oblivion and Skyrim. If I had played Ultima before the ES games, I would've been going "well damn, y'all just wanted to make Ultima in 3D I guess!"
While I'm glad that you've made this series and introduced me to these games, it makes me sad that EA has done nothing with this series at all and allowed it to just fade from the cultural consciousness. I could go on about how much I hate how EA has done this to so many games and studios, but this comment is long enough already!
Started watching this series like a week ago and finished the final one earlier, isn't this a nice surprise. I wasn't alive when these games were made and you've got me to start looking into early RPGs through this series, and just early fantasy like LotR in general. Your videos have a tangible effect on people's lives, thanks for making them.
Thanks so much! One of my goals is to make video game history fun and digestible, since it's easy to feel disconnected from the past. Always vindicating to read comments like this.
Came for the video, stayed for the Norm MacDonald clip.
Seriously, though, I love this series. I bought Ultima 7 late last year and have heard a lot of good things about it, so I’m excited for that vid; and this was super-interesting too as I own both games but have yet to play them. You’re up there with Dungeon Chill as one of my favorite long-form video essayists.
For the longest time, I've only known of the Ultima franchise in passing, scouring GameFAQs for what RPGs were there for the Genesis and such. But this entire retrospective series has been truly interesting to learn about all of it as a whole!
I hope you never lose that spark of wanting to explore older games and series like this because I can't wait to see what you tackle next!
What a wonderful treat. Christmas comes early this year!
Always love and appreciate the uploads.
I needed this Maj, these past months haven't been too kind to me, so: Thank you for this upload.
Hoping everybody is doing well on your side!
Wishing you the best.
Cheers clokko, sorry to hear that. Hope this takes your mind off things for a bit and hope even more that things get better for you.
@Majuular It will, just as all your past ones always have.
Sincerely, thank you.
The combination of company history and game retrospective is an awesome format.
Look, it says you only uploaded it 5 minutes ago, but without having seen the video yet, I'm already in a better mood.
What wonderful timing, I just ran out of Majuular videos to rewatch. The win here is immense.
I've been rewatching him before bed of late myself.
Majuular and NGPlus videos are my goto.
Oh man I had no idea why I woke up 3 hours ago but I know now. My soul was like "Wake up, there's more amazing Ultima stuff from Majuular"
Love your work, Happy Monday Majuular
Your videos have become my defacto watch whenever i have a bunch of prep work to do for d&d, and seeing this pop up not 5 minutes after starting that work made my whole night
This series has been so fun and informative! Your videos have gotten better and better over the years!
God It's so nice to see more ultima Deep dives including covering stuff that the old Spoony reviews never covered. Whilst those Spoony retrospectives are fun they definitely are a product of their time but these feel like classics I can come back to watch again and again. I think I've already watched your Shadow tower retrospective like three times already.
I just want to comment on the Wing Commander section: thanks for covering it and giving it the weight it deserves. I feel like a lot of videogame history has forgotten how pivotal it was in creating a space for what became AAA development (for good and ill). And it's my personal view that, while budget-wise Final Fantasy VII handily outspent it, Wing Commander III is actually the first modern AAA videogame in terms of how it was produced.
As always, thanks for your thorough and well-researched videos!!
Been foaming at the mouth for every episode, dnd was cancelled and im starting ultima 1 on my miyoo mini while doing my bed sheet laundry, your release could not be more perfectly timed. Love you Majuular.
Unironically happy to have cause to comment on one of your videos this time. Alas, i am really trying to finish some of the other hour + videos im in the middle of but I had to at least stop here and say hey and leave a like😊
I'll have this in my watch history to continue tonight!
A new Majuular video is exactly what this Monday needed. #Cultima
Wing Commander was my absolute jam back in the day. Right now, I only have boxes copies of 3 and 4, but I will find the rest one day. That OPL-2 Wing Commander theme has my nostalgia synapses firing like mad.
Woke up and while still in bed I saw this in my subscription feed and 2 hours later I’m still in bed as I watch this, so you’re at fault for my lack of productivity this ‘morning’ (it’s 8pm but it’s morning for me dammit).
Glad to see the next entry in the series, I'd say this is the best Ultima retrospective series on TH-cam and you're not even done yet, can't wait to see when you get to 8 & 9
It’s neat seeing the evolution from Spoony to MS-DOS Project to FinnTrovert to Maajular.
@Noon3rs I've never seen the MS-DOS Project one but am familiar with the other 2, shame Spoony completely self destructed
@@hakai124 Agreed. Nothing lasts forever, but you always hope the end is one to celebrate and not mourn.
As always, incredible to to get so much quality and at such length! The audio, the editing, somehow everything seems to improve with every video! Great job once again!
A while back I was on a small 90s cRPG bender and decided to tackle Ultima 7, a game I had heard about as one of the big legends. I first tried to do it as a blind Let's Play to serve the dual purpose of introducing other people to this important piece of cRPG history, though I eventually burned out on that, since it's a massive amount of work. When you started this series I told myself I'd finish U7 before your video on it, so I could experience the game for myself first.
I am very glad you're tackling Worlds of Ultima and Ultima Underworld, because my progress is glacially slow and this gives me some respite!
Absolutely fascinating look at the Worlds of Ultima games, though: they seem to get passed over a lot in discussion of the series as a whole, but this makes Martian Dreams especially stand out as a very creative effort that engages directly with the philosophical themes of mainline games. You've tempted me to play it, despite the complex interface of U6 having initially put me off. (I usually profess to like complex games, but I've found that as an adult I can rarely stand the frustration of a cumbersome interface. I'm think I'm much more interested in engaging with a complex system.)
I have been watching, watching, and rewatching your Ultima Retrospectives again and again and have been waiting for this. and to think I'm this early!
Man I can’t wait for the other videos on Ultima.
I look *SO* forward to 7!
This is giving Ultima the recognition it deserves.
Everyone interested in RPGs should watch this series of yours!
hell yes another video to fall asleep to like every night for the next month
gonna make my youtube rewind "you watched 21x as much as the average viewer" stat look like rookie numbers by this time next year
thank you for making content that is as enjoyable to listen to as it is to pay attention to. Always love seeing a new video of yours in my sub box :)
Majuular sleep crew assemble
Your videos are always so cozy.
A maj AND Grimbeard drop in the same day? Truly it is a miracle
I ask this to every video essayist I like, and I know this potentially a tall ask, but omg please put captions on your videos. I would give you money for this.
Just gotta say Mr Juular that your voice sits right next to Brandon Gametrailers Jones as the voice of the history of Video Games in my head.
You feel cut from that exact same cloth of internet pioneers in the way you talk about games with sincerity and humor.
Thanks for the excellent work you do!
Damn that is some high praise! Much obliged, glad you enjoy the videos.
Another great chapter in the Ultima Saga. I absolutely plan to watch the whole series again once you're done. Hardest part is just remembering what happened last game.
Happy cozy season to you majuular.
And to you Ted!
Thanks for reminding me that I'm 42, and also thanks for someone finally giving the ultima series a really thorough review. Cant wait for the next Trilogy! Not you, Ultima 8 and 9
Nice, just it time to watch while I eat!
Ive been looking forward to this video!
Every time a Majuular video graces my subscription feed, my day is immediately better and my evening entertainment set. Thanks for all you do my man!
BABE WAKE UP, NEW RICHARDO LONGFINGER VIDEO JUST DROPPED
The effects of my nat 20 disguise check continue to reverberate throughout the channel
The moment when Majulaar's narration pauses on the song at the introduction for Martian Dreams, that song is fantastic!
1:17:00
I don't think I've been as hyped for a youtube video as I am for that Ultima 7 review.
Other than the Ultima 8 review, for completely opposite reasons.
... *Oh god Ultima 9*
EDIT: OH GOD UNDERWORLD LETS GO!
What a couple of small, imperfect, yet beautiful gems the World of Ultima games are! They show the kind of creativity and risk-taking that are now relegated to indies, but once were somewhat common in the industry. Can you imagine a tuple-A game based on the works of Jules Verne starring Tesla, Freud and Rasputin?
Thanks for this retrospective, much appreciated! And now I'm gingerly waiting for the next episode, Ultima Underworld I and II are personal favorites of mine.
i can't stop thinking about Spoony or the first 24b hours whenever you upload a new Ultima video
Your Ultima retrospective is the best, bar NONE! Christmas came early this year!
Love your stuff!
👍
Hey thanks so much! You haven't watched the video yet though it might be terrible and you'll regret the tip...
Your ability to research and compile all of the disparate information out there and present it in an entertaining manner is extremely impressive. Also, actually playing these more niche titles... yeah. Thank you.
This is the inside of a police station.
This library is a venerable repository of knowledge
This station is non-operational.
@@analogmoz Dark Seed and ATDI reference in the same thread? Worlds are colliding here!!
What a quaint general store with a little bit of everything for day-to-day existence
@@analogmoz"Species growing,
Bubbles in an IV loitering"
Here I was rewatching all of your Ultima videos and finished U5, then I see you published this video. Here I go! Thanks for all your efforts.
6:58 I'm sorry, but you're just going to throw that image on screen and not even mention Robert Z'Dar Jr. there on the right?
I have a strong desire to not sell that man potions.
The Chin
Wow.... I have never seen such sights....
Majuular has really become my favorite content creator. These old rpgs can be quite daunting but it's awesome watching you go through them.
Anytime I see someone complaining about depicting some primitive people from 10 billion years ago in literally any way, positive or negative, I think of that comic showing presumably Aztecs sacrificing someone and saying "Oh great, here comes the Alt-Right" while looking at the Spanish.
I'm grateful that you went back and played all these and took the time to show us. I've always wanted to go back and play these, but as time moves on I've come to realize I'll never be able to complete them when my gaming backlog is already so big.
Well, I know what I'll be doing for the next 2½ hours.
Man, I love this channel. I can't claim to have played MOST of the games you talk about, but if I ever need a 2-hour video to play in the background while I'm cooking something, or hanging out with the cat, I throw on a Majuular vid most of the time. Good shit, very thankful for your work.
Dr. Rafkin: What's that Majuular? You want me to craft Muscle Loosening Disease blow darts?
You Say: no
Dr. Rafkin: Oh, well ask any time...I sure hope it doesn't come to it 🥵👉👈
I'm recovering from surgery and your videos are just the medicine I need thx Maj
41:16 Not hard. I feel even mentioning Hugo in a negative light is showing more love to Hugo than it really deserves...
As someone who grew up playing Hugo: yes.
@@Majuular Roll a six-sided die. The number you get represents the quality of art on the next screen from 1-6. If you roll a 6 it's blatantly a digitised photograph. Rolling 3-5 means it's stolen clipart.
And some call them *classics*
“Once you have gained such power... Your life will not end in a comfortable bed. You will die on the battlefield. In the savage garden of war's bloody delights.”
Another very pleasing video giving me a window into a time and style of game that was just before mine!
Oh shit I need to watch the others first shouldn't I?
Probably
every time
Yes
Hell yeah you do.
Not necessarily but I do make references to earlier games and bits of Origin history, so if you wanted a better understanding of that stuff you might get something out of the earlier videos.
Thank you for adding chapters, by the way. Now I can jump to the right timing if youtube misremembers where I was
Grimbeard and Majuular on the same day, we're eating so good
Funny, considering the last time was the same!
I swear I never mean for this to happen but it often does.
Thank you as always, sir, for your videos being wonderfully funny and highly educational in depth reviews. Every time a new video of yours drops, I know I'm in for a great time that day.
52:50 Offense is taken, people who get offended WANT to be offended.
Exactly. People love making mountains out of molehills.
The three most primitive tribes were all white European tribes, and he included several female chiefs among the tribes.
Richard Garrett definitely knew which way the winds were blowing, and was trying to head them off.
I doubt he could have foreseen the incredible hatred for attractive women, though.
Bro I cannot express strongly enough how these videos resonate with me. They're games I dabbled with, but I was either too dumb or too busy to truly engage with. But these videos have driven me back to play a few of them as an adult, and I've gained an appreciation I didn't have then form them. The nostalgia hooks me, and the deep dives engage me. I've told my two brothers about your channel and they're in now too.
Boy. I think you're a lot more respectful and mature than I am. If it were my dumbass making a video on Savage Empire, I woulda just straight up insulted everyone who gets all uncomfortable and jumps to weird conclusions about the name or the various tribes. Probably woulda said reaching such conclusions says more about the person who got to those conclusions rather than the game itself.
What I'm trying to say is, good job navigating that weird aspect of the game. You've got a lot of tact. It was a good reminder for me to take a less combative position in the future.
yussss! Been waiting for this one not only because I thought that examining Ultima's foray into other genres was fascinating... but also because Majuular's now one step closer to tackling Ultima VII: the Black Gate, which was such a jawdropper of a game at the time
I do feel like the racism topic for Savage Empire is worth exploring a little more, while still giving the game full credit for *meaning well* and clarifying that things are worth examining on multiple levels.
I had a similar experience playing the 2nd Golden Sun game recently, and its fantasy Africa section is absolutely in a game that feels like it is ideologically opposed to racism, and has some interesting things to say about not assuming the worst in people as a theme, but those factors only take *some* of the sting out of how racist that section feels to play, what with the fantasy africans worshipping and not understanding an ancient, advanced piece of broken technology as a god, and the only named character from their people being given really only negative traits. Like, I can see enough other factors to assume good intent, but *oh boy* did that good intent not save them in that game.
In that light, It does look like Savage Empire did *better* than Golden Sun: The Lost Age, well enough that, in context of time, it's worth letting off the hook, but stil examining some of the tropes and base assumptions it uses. "Guns are totally possible to jury-rig, to make, you just need superior modern knowledge" feels like a worthwhile example, because the closer you examine it, the weirder it is that nobody else seems able to figure out how to use these materials to make explosives. The real-world fact that you need a *lot* of complicated processes and mattalurgy to make something strong enough to contain a gunshot without destroying itself, stuff random modern people won't really be able to improvise on the fly, is a good reminder that ancient people weren't stupid, for example.
Also the general association of tribal and tropical environments with advanced precursor societies in this kind of pulpy fiction *is* built on people looking at the ruins in parts of African and out-of-hand assuming that the local Africans could never have built them.
Again, this is not me accusing the game of any ill intent- I actually do believe that it's coming from a genuine place. I also acknowledge that that isn't always good enough, and you can perpetuate racist old tropes without intending any of their negative traits. Mistakes happen, and examining these things critically is worth doing, to learn from older mistakes.
*Africans could never have built them.
@@lucascoval828 Thanks, rather important typoe fixed.
I was thinking the same thing. It is clear that the folks at Origin meant well, and were trying their best, but... we just need to count the number of non-white portraits in U6 and Martian Dreams, compared to Savage Empires to understand that there is more to sensitivity than just not outright insulting people who are different than you...
I've always been fascinated by these games. Thanks for the great vid!
Finding you and Dungeon Chill in my recommendations was one of the best things TH-cam has done for me. I may not know anything about most of the games you guys cover, but you're just cosy to listen to. And yeah, definitely invested in learning more about Ultima now thanks to you.
It's insane how much better your content about Ultima is vs the previous best "Ultima Retrospective" (the one by Spoony). TH-cam content creation has evolved a LOT in the intervening decade.
Keep it up, great work.
Thank you for giving the time of day to the Runes of Virtue games! I know they're not the best and some people would call them bad, but those two games got me through some very difficult times in my life. As a bonus Runes of Virtue 2 helped me learn how to make gameshark codes which eventually got me into a career in IT.
I'm a simple man. I see Majuular's 2+ hour vid, I instantly know that I'll get some wonderful video game history and trivia to listen to for the day. Man, I grew up and live outside of US, and while I certainly heard about Ultima, I never knew its actual impact on video game history. This is a fantastic piece of history, and a research work to boot.
Your videos are huge source of comfort to me. So psyched for the latest Ultima addition!
Your content has a healing power over my soul. Work drains me your vids entertain me. Thanks for all your effort on these Ultima episodes, especially.